workers rights Archives - Liberty Justice Center

Brown v. AFSCME Council 5

AFSCME Council 5 collected fees for years from workers who did not want to join a union. The lawsuit against AFSCME may net as much as $13 million in recovered fees for 8,000 state and local workers who paid fees to the union prior to...

Fellows v. MAPE

Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) collected fees for years from workers who did not want to join a union. The lawsuit against MAPE could recover as much as $5.8 million for state employees.

Presta v. Cook County Teachers Union

South Suburban College and Cook County Teachers Union refused to stop deducting money from the paychecks of five South Suburban College public safety officers. With the help of attorneys from the Liberty Justice Center, the nonprofit law firm that represented plaintiff Mark Janus in Janus...

Ramon Baro v. Lake County Federation of Teachers

Ariadna Ramon Baro is from Spain and is in her first year of a three-year cultural exchange program teaching at Waukegan High School. After arriving in the United States in summer 2019, she attended an orientation run by officials from the Waukegan Community Unit School...

Creed v. ASEA

Two Alaska state employees have filed a federal lawsuit against the Alaska State Employee Association and the state for forcing them to pay union dues against their will. In fall 2019, the Alaska governor issued an administrative order to ensure no government employee paid union...

Schaszberger v. AFSCME Council 13

David Schaszberger worked for the state of Pennsylvania as a statistical analyst with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry for ten years. During his time as a state employee, he was never a member of the government union, yet he was forced to pay...

Suhr v. New York State Department of Public Service

In April 2019, Daniel Suhr, an associate senior attorney at the Liberty Justice Center, submitted a request to the New York Department of Civil Service for basic payroll information for public employees. In his role as an attorney at a public-interest law firm, Suhr sought...

Halloran v. AFSCME Council 5

Susan Halloran became a senior account clerk in the business office of Inver Hills Community College in October 2018. In the months that followed, she was approached multiple times at her workplace by an AFSCME Council 5 representative. In April 2019, she was pulled out...

Mattos v. AFSCME Council 3

In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it is illegal to require public employees to pay union fees as a condition of employment. In September 2019, Maryland state employees forced to pay these fees prior to the Court’s decision filed a lawsuit, Mattos et al.,...

Wenzig v. SEIU Local 668

For decades, Pennsylvania required state employees who were not union members to pay hundreds of dollars a year in “agency fees” to government unions. However, in 2018 the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME ended the practice of requiring government employees to fund...

Stroeder v. SEIU Local 503

Colleen Stroeder has worked for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) as an executive support specialist since 2008. Upon starting her position, Stroeder’s supervisor led her to believe that she was required to join SEIU Local 503 and pay union dues. After the Supreme Court’s...

File v. Kastner

Schuyler File is a private attorney who works and resides in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Since he began practicing there in December 2017, the State Bar Association of Wisconsin has required him to be a member and pay mandatory membership dues. File previously practiced in Indiana,...

Jackson v. Napolitano

Mike Jackson and Tory Smith are transportation services workers at the University of California, San Diego. They work on the parking staff to support school events and maintain safety on campus. As new hires at the University – Tory in 2006 and Mike in 2013...

Solomon v. AFSCME DC 37

The Liberty Justice Center filed a class action lawsuit on July 23, 2019, against AFSCME District Council 37 seeking a refund of illegal union fees plaintiff Scott Solomon and other city employees paid from July 23, 2016, through June 27, 2018. If successful, approximately 7,000...

Wolf v. UPTE

In May 2019, Isaac Wolf filed a federal lawsuit against his employer, the Regents of the University of California, and University Professional & Technical Employees Communications Workers of America Local 9119 for violating his First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of association. Wolf...

Leitch v. AFSCME

On May 1, 2019, nine workers in Illinois government filed a federal class action lawsuit against AFSCME, demanding the union return money taken from their paychecks for union “agency” or “fair share” fees before the Court’s June 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME. If successful,...

Hannay v. Kent State

Annamarie Hannay, Adda Gape and John Kohl are custodians for student residence halls at Kent State University. Since they started working at the university, they were required to pay money to AFSCME, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. Several months after the Supreme...

Bennett v. AFSCME

Susan Bennett has worked for the Moline-Coal Valley School District since 2009. Since then, she has been required to pay either membership dues or non-member fees to AFSCME Local 672. But in June 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Janus v....

Sweet v. California Association of Psychiatric Technicians

Alfred Sweet is a psychiatric technician at Atascadero State Hospital in Paso Robles. Sweet joined the California Association of Psychiatric Technicians when he started working at the hospital in 2011 and began making requests to resign and become an agency fee payer in 2014. Those...

O’Callaghan v. Napolitano

Two University of California workers filed a federal lawsuit, O’Callaghan v. Napolitano, alleging union dues were illegally deducted from their paychecks. Cara O’Callaghan has worked as the finance manager of the Sport Club program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, since 2009. Jenée Misraje...

Oliver v. SEIU

Shalea Oliver has worked as an income maintenance caseworker for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services since 2014. In her position, she helps a variety of people, including the under or unemployed, disabled and other vulnerable populations in Philadelphia. As a Philadelphia native, service to...

Adams, et al v. Teamsters

Four mental health workers in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, tried for months to quit their government union, Teamsters Local 429, with no success. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that it is unconstitutional to require government workers to pay dues or fees to...

Grossman v. HGEA

In January 2019, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Patricia Grossman, an employee of the University of Hawaii at Hilo, against the University and the Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA) for refusing to allow her to resign union membership. Ms. Grossman...

Mandel v. SEIU

In December 2018, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Illinois school district employee Erich Mandel against his government union, SEIU Local 73, and his employer, Community Consolidated School District 15, for violating his First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom...

Hendrickson v. AFSCME

In November 2018, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit, Hendrickson v. AFSCME, on behalf of New Mexico state employee Brett Hendrickson against his government union, AFSCME, and the state of New Mexico for violating his First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of...

Few v. UTLA

In November 2018, the Liberty Justice Center and California Policy Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of special education teacher Thomas Few against the United Teachers of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District for violating Few’s First Amendment rights to free speech...

Defending Local Right-to-Work Laws

In December 2015, the village of Lincolnshire, Illinois, sought to protect worker freedom and boost the local economy by becoming the first municipality in the state – and one of the first local governments in the U.S. – to enact a local "Right-to-Work" ordinance. The...

Hill v. SEIU

Can the state appoint an "Exclusive Representative" to speak to the government on your behalf, whether you like it or not, just because you benefit from a government program?

Janus v. AFSCME

WE WON! In a major victory for First Amendment rights, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that government workers can no longer be required to pay a union as a condition of working in public service. Learn more about Janus v. AFSCME and what it...

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